


I Should Live in Salt

by barricadeboyznthehood



Category: Graceland (TV)
Genre: Courage, Depression, F/M, Gen, Other, Trauma, Trust, Violence, mention of rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-27
Updated: 2013-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-16 08:34:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/860113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barricadeboyznthehood/pseuds/barricadeboyznthehood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie Demarco and Whistler watch their deal go south. Charlie is left on a boat by her marks without any help from the FBI. Briggs, Mike and the rest of the team contrive a way to bring her back unharmed.  Demons and secrets are uncovered off the coast of Southern California.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost in Translation

**Author's Note:**

> [ Title from The National’s “I Should Live in Salt”. Prompt suggested by i-veni-vidi-vici from tumblr, “Charlie gets hurt on the job and Briggs is upset and blames himself” combined with “Briggs or Charlie is in a dark place and the other helps them pull through.” I’m also adding little moments with Charlie/mike and briggs/paige because I believe those pairings have more of a romantic link though the youngness and innocence of the agents is a stark contrast to the dynamic Charlie and Briggs share. ]

            Charlie remembered watching a video of a college-aged girl demonstrating how to break zip ties on YouTube. The ties were the mark of an amateur who decided to kidnap people for small change. However, the zip ties that bound her to the chair were more difficult to break. If the marks had bound her with handcuffs, Charlie could have easily broken her weaker hand and slipped out of them, using her chair as an advantage to beat the bastards into submission Instead, she was trapped in the poor man’s bonds and unable to escape.

She sighed, mentally reprimanding herself for being so dumb to be bound in zip ties against a chair. She had been tied to a chair before, both for recreational reasons and dangerous ones. She knew how to get out of a sticky situation, though, her mind had been clouded by the seasickness that washed over her. The agent swayed against the chair with the waves that crashed against the hull of the boat.  For some reason, she could surf like a pro but if she was on a boat and trapped, the feeling of nausea washed over her and made her head pound.  Maybe if I threw up on them, they wouldn’t have tied me to a goddamn chair, she thought.

The deal went south, thanks to Whistler. Their marks, both Charlie and Whistler’s, met them in an alcove near the docks. The two men, who Charlie jokingly called to Graceland’s faces Bevis and Butthead, exited their 78-dodge charger.  

“You have the stuff” Bevis dared to ask, challenging Charlie as Whistler stood swaying back and forth, his hands grasping at his arms in uncertainty.

“Whistler.” Charlie hissed, shaking her head no as he spoke up.

“I-It’s good quality.” He reassured Butthead. 

Bevis’s dark eyebrows rose to disappear amongst his ink curly hair. “What’ wrong with it?” He noted. “You don’t have the 50,000 worth?” His voice grew in volume and his tone was threatening. “It better be good.” He gestured to Butthead who produced a suitcase from behind his back. He opened it up to show a sum of around 40,000 dollars.

Charlie knew they were being ripped off, normally she would care, but right now Whistler was so anxious that he kept mumbling,

“Its 50,000 dollars’ worth but it takes a lot to get this quality.”

“Are you saying you’re ripping us off, twitchy?” Butthead threatened, narrowing his clear eyes at Whistler, who only continued to sway back and forth in his manic way.

“I…no, it’s all there.” Whistler reassured Butthead but his eyes were downcast and Charlie was cursing under her breath.

“Christ.” She raised a hand to the other men, “Look, my friend, he’s having a rough day, let’s just call it quits, and hurry this up, okay?” She looked to both men and then nudged Whistle to get the drugs. 

Whistler shakily produced the container holding the meth. He had worked had to score the deal on it and he couldn’t help his temptation. Charlie could see the dwindling courage of Whistler to deny himself drugs.  All his relationships were going down the tubes. Charlie was trying to resurrect him but his current behavior wasn’t’ helping anyone, especially her or Audrey.

Bevis’s eyebrows continued to be in the raised position as he surveyed the drugs and shook his head. It happened so fast. Charlie didn’t get to utter the magic phrase. Whistler was shouting as Butthead hit the shaking man in the back of his head with the butt of his handgun.

Bevis pulled Charlie; the man was cursing in Slovak. Charlie was pushed down against the hood of the dodge charger. She heard the metal click of the gun being cocked and she inhaled shakily. Whistler was unconscious, unable to call out for help and Charlie lost her voice.

She tried calling out to the Agents who were a few blocks away watching this unfold through a monitor. Why weren’t they helping her? Charlie looked down at the ground and saw her wire and earpiece being currently smashed by Butthead’s boot. She bit her lower lip as she was ushered into the car, her dark eyes casting them on Whistler’s unconscious body. She hoped to God that they would find him in time.

As they pulled away from the scene, Charlie heard shouting and cursing of “FBI.” The agents were too late. She was pulled in a different direction. Charlie watched her chances of escape dwindle before her as she was pushed onto the deck of a boat and the motor whirred as they drove off against the choppy waves of Southern California.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After her meeting with Slavinsky, Charlie has something taken from her. Briggs and Mike decide to find their fallen agent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ This includes mention of rape. Proceed with caution.]

Chapter 2 

“Wake up.” A sharp voice commanded the sleeping Charlie to awake. Charlie tugged at her restraints first and found them as tight as before. She sighed, letting her head drop in defeat for a moment before she looked at her captor. It was Butthead, actual name RobbSlavinsky, not an ally of Kuzmanov, but he was from a section of the Poland Mafia that was stationed in So-Cal.  

 

“I’m up.” Charlie said dryily, her heavy lidded dark eyes lifting up to look at her captor with disgust. “You were going to rip us off.” She noted with a sneer of discontempt, “There wasn’t 40,000 dollars in there. That was prime stuff.” Several strands of dark hair fell into her eyes and she brushed it away with a flick of her head.

 

Slavinsky smiled slyly and spoke in an accented voice,  “Yes, we were going to rip you off. Your little friend there was acting suspicious.” He noted.

 

“What do you expect?” Charlie looked incredulously at Slavinsky, “He’s a user.”

 

“And you’re not?” Slavinsky, dressed in a cream colored suit moved closer to her, inspecting her face for a moment to see any traces of bags and broken blood vessels. The shows of fatigue were there masquerading as drug usage. The man gave a huff of approval before taking a step back.

 

Charlie knew in these situations that it was better to talk to your captor, ask them the questions before they could ask you any.

 

“Why were you ripping us off though? We’ve been giving you the best of the best. We come to you first to sell when there are a shit load of other dealers looking for the same quality.”

 

“Because, your friend has been giving us shitty quality.” Slavinsky told Charlie, not sure as to why she didn’t know Whistler wasn’t making the best quality when so many people were hounding for it. “It appears you need to talk to your friend. Looks like he’s the one who ripped you off.” He pursed his lips before smiling something terrible, “I think we can make an....arrangement for the lesser dope you gave us.” His smile widened.

 

Charlie tensed as the man drew closer and she held her breath, feeling as though she was drowning.  

 

\----

 

Mike was doing the dishes, as always, because his name was permanently stuck on dish duty. Damn chore wheel.  Jakes, Paige, and Johnny were all huddled around the kitchen counter eating the remnants of the mexican restaurant they all had visited moments ago after their operations.

 

Johnny turned as he heard the sliding glass door open and close, “Yo, what’s happenin’ man?”

 

Briggs had a scowl on his face and was furiously talking into his cell phone. He growled angrily and looked at Mike doing the dishes.

 

“Nothing much, Johnny. Go back to eating your food.” Briggs said calmly before he tugged Mike towards the phone conference room, “Come with me.” He muttered.

 

“Briggs---What’s happening?” Mike squeaked as he was taken away from the dishes, the sink still running with warm water. He could finish them later.

 

The young agent was pushed into the conference room.  He smoothed the front of his shirt and loked perplexed as the dishtowel was still draped over his shoulder.

 

“What’s wrong?” Mike asked sharply, breaking Briggs’s concentration.

 

The man rose his eyebrows at Mike and looked at him sternly, “It’s Charlie. She should be back right now.” He paused, “I got word from Whistler. He was unconcious but he’s at Providence Mercy Hospital overnight for detox.” He noted, “Charlie was with him. The deal went South. The team lost her.” He muttered, “They fucking lost her. Something with the wire transmission or something. “

 

Mike grew worried by the second. “W-where do you think she is?” He asked.

 

“Whistler mentioned something about the guys penchant for sailing.” Briggs paused, “I think she’s somewhere on the coast.” He muttered and put his hands to his face, “This was supposed to be an easy operation.”

 

Mike bit his lower lip, “She’ll be fine though, right? We can find her. I mean, they’re just minor drug dealers, right?” He asked to be reassured.

 

Briggs shook his head, “They are, technically. But they’re from a specific section of the Polish Mafia that run a sex trafficking ring back in Eastern Europe. They’re worse than Kuzmanov. They use the drug money to support their...business.” He said the word with disgust.

 

“We need to find her then.” Mike nodded.

 

Briggs nodded, patting Mike’s shoulder, “Let’s go.”

 

\-----

 

Charlie awoke on the damp ground of the ship’s hull. She felt tiny splinters embedded in her skin and the smell of saltwater and blood overwhelmed her. She could move her wrists but they were aching from the prior restraints that had bound her. She arched and stretched her back, several joints cracking and aching.

 

She let out a small exhale of breath and saw that her pants were discarded next to her, practically cut off her from the looks of it. She had fought.  She wasn’t completely helpless. Her whole body ached. She saw a mirror in the corner of the small hull and she moved closer to it, stumbling because of her shaky legs.

 

She almost screamed as she saw her face. It was swollen, bruised and endured numerous cuts that had congealed with blood. She bit her lower lip. She was free from her restraints now. How many men were out there? Her gun was probably taken away from her. She felt this overwhelming sadness in her stomach. She had been raped. She could feel that from the way her body reacted. She was mad at herself for letting that happen, but what could be done? She had been bound and there was only so much she could do by head-butting, biting and kicking. A flash entered her mind and she remembered that they had laughed in her face and enjoyed her feistiness. A roll of disgust washed over her. She decided to free herself.  

 

Charlie moved stealthily up to the deck. She didn’t care that she was half-clothed right now. She was going to kick those son of a bitches in the ass.

 

“Are you looking for me?” Slavinsky stated with a grin, surrounded by three of his men who had been playing poker before Charlie had interrupted them.

  
Charlie made no sound or reply. She only smiled sickly sweet as she took the broken glass perfectly curved like a machete in her hand and lunged at the men.

**Author's Note:**

> [A/N: In the next chapter, things don't go as Charlie had planned. Slight depiction of rape in the next chapter, you have been warned. ]


End file.
